


Infection

by fhsa_archivist



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-26
Updated: 2004-08-26
Packaged: 2019-02-05 18:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12800265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhsa_archivist/pseuds/fhsa_archivist
Summary: Author's Note: Part of my new commitment to write things other than Willow fics.





	Infection

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Haven, the archivist: This story was originally archived at [Fandom Haven Story Archive (FHSA)](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Fandom_Haven_Story_Archive), was scheduled to shut down at the end of 2016. To preserve the archive, I began working with the OTW to transfer the stories to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. If you are this creator and the work hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Fandom Haven Story Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/fhsa/profile).

She was coming. 

 

The Slayer. 

 

Buffy. 

 

My sister. 

 

Oh, God. 

 

I'm shaking. Can you believe it? At twenty-two years of age I'm still afraid of her, afraid of what she'll say when she finds out . . . 

 

I can't do this. 

 

I just can't. 

 

She shouldn't be here. Why the hell did she have to come? I wrote her once a week, like I promised. I called like the dutiful sister once every other day to let her know I was okay. Sure, it was a big waste of money and time mainly, since we didn't really talk all that much - just a 'Hey, how're you.' And one in return. That was it. As sisters we weren't bonding. 

 

And that was okay by me. 

 

Not bonding was just dandy because not bonding meant she didn't want to come visit me. Not bonding meant that we were getting to the point where she didn't feel the need to come running to save me. 

 

So why is she here? 

 

Damnit. 

 

"You should sit down." 

 

"Pfft," I wave a hand at Jason, blowing a bit of hair from my face. "Sit down or pace. I think I'll choose the pacing, thank you very much." 

 

"Well it's making me dizzy, baby." He turned those baby blue eyes my way and I melted, just as I had the first time we met, at the lupanar on the night of a full moon. He had been so handsome, standing there in baggy jeans with no shirt on. Our eyes had met and 'BAM!' - that was it. Immediate lust. Love would come later. But lust? We had that nailed from the beginning. 

 

"She doesn't know, Jason! I never told her why I left!" Hysterical crying - check. I was right on track with my nervous breakdown. 

 

"Dawn. . . calm down. . ." 

 

His voice was so soft and kind, his hands reaching out to pull me into his lap. Normally a dangerous position for us, but not right now. I was too worried to get all tingly over handsome male flesh. 

 

"She doesn't know. . . and I'm going to have to tell her. The full moon is tomorrow. . . " 

 

He nodded. There was no getting around it. I had run from Sunnydale a year ago after getting infected by a stray werewolf. I never told her about the infection, just hid the scratch beneath long sleeved shirts and packed my things. She didn't like the monsters. Not now that she couldn't have Angel. Being denied her one true love had warped her into a bigot. 

 

And I was one of Them now. Just another freak of nature. That's how she would see it anyway. I wouldn't be her sister anymore the moment the words . . . 

 

"I'm a werewolf," I tested them out on my mouth, ignoring the curious look Jason gave me. 

 

"Yes. You are. For a year now," he joked, rubbing my back. 

 

"I'm trying to figure out how to say it," I protested, slapping his arm playfully. "Seems like the only thing I can come up with is, well, just saying it. . . " 

 

A soft sigh blew from between my lips. 

 

"She's going to say I betrayed her. . . that my lies were a stab in the back. But. . .you know. . I only lied so that she'd still love me. . . not to hurt her. I just don't want. . ." 

 

I didn't want her to turn her back on me. Like she had on Angel. Like she had on Spike. I wanted to wake up and still be her sister the day after telling her my dark little secret. 

 

"You could be overreacting for nothing," Jason reminded me gently. And I knew he was right. In my dreams I could see Buffy crying and holding me when I told her what had happened one year ago, as I was walking back from the mall. 

 

But in my nightmares she yelled and screamed before turning her back on me, never to be heard from again. 

 

Dreams and nightmares - I'd be happy for something in a shade of gray, something in between would be just dandy. 

 

There's someone knocking on the front door and I know without opening it that its her, Buffy. 

 

"I'll get it," Jason is offering and I shake my head, giving him a weak smile. 

 

"That's okay. I'll do it." 

 

"You're going to tell her now, aren't you? Like, the moment she gets inside?" His eyes are wide and wondering when I nod. Best to get it over with as soon as possible. 

 

When I open the door she's standing there, and her face lights up with happiness. I realize in that moment that I've missed her. A lot. The hugging lasts for a good five minutes before I can convince her to grab her bag and come inside. 

 

"What's wrong, Dawnie?" 

 

Oh, shit. I guess I'm still as transparent as I had been when I was just a teenager. Age does not cure everything, I've found. 

 

"Will I always be your sister, Buffy? No matter what happens?" 

 

She gives me a strange look but nods, a worried smile on her lips. 

 

"Of course, sweetie. You can tell me anything. . . what's wrong? What happened?" 

 

I can see in her eyes that she never believed my excuses those many, many months before. She didn't believe that I left just to get away from the Hellmouth. Not when the rest of the world was filled with just as many demons and vampires and shifters. It had been a lame excuse at the time, and it had grown lamer as time passed. But she had accepted it. 

 

She had never pushed me. 

 

I took a deep breath and met her eyes again, begging her silently to understand as I dropped the thin shields I kept around myself to hide my aura. I saw her eyes widen with understanding, with realization. 

 

But not with anger or scorn. 

 

And, for the first time since It happened I felt like things might have a happy ending. 

 

~*~The End~*~


End file.
